Wire-forming machine.



PATENTED OCT. 22. 1907.

W. H. MERKEL.

WIRE FORMING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAB. 6. 1907.

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WITNESSES r /ra A TTOHNEYS No. 869,006. PATEN'TED OCT. 22. 1907.

W. H. MERKEL.

WIRE FORMING MACHINE. APPLICATION HLED MAE. s. 1907.

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PATENTED 001 .22. 1907.

W. H. MERKEL. WIRELFORMING MACHINE. APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 6. 1907.

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W/TNESSES -T@ Q Q ATTORNEYS WILLIAM I'IENERY MERKEL, OF COLUMBUS, GEORGIA.

WIRE-FORMING MACHINE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22, 1907.

Application filed March 6; 1907. Serial No. 360,836

To all whom it may concern:

3c it known that I,W1LLIAM HENERY llIERKEL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Columbus,

in the county of Muscogce and State of Georgia, have invented a new and Improved Wire-Forming Machine, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to wire-forming machines, and is intended especially to be used for forming the short wires or bars which are used in brick-making machinery for cutting the clay into unbaked brick.

The object of the invention is to produce a machine of this class which is simple in construction and which can be operated quickly to form an eye at each end of a short length of wire. The construction is such as to enable the length of the wire to be readily adjusted as desired.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts to be more fully described hereinafter and particularly set forth in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine, certain parts being broken away and shown in section; Fig. 2 is a plan of the machine, certain parts being broken away and shown in section; Fig. 3 is a plan showing in detail the twisting hook and the portion of the mechanism which cooperates therewith in forming an eye at the end of the wire; Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the lower portion of the machine and illustrating the operation of a wire cutter; Fig. 5 is a plan of the forward portion of the machine and illustrating the operation of a gage for determining the length of the wire bar which is formed, and illustrating, also, the operation of a device for roughly forming the eye before the wire is twisted; and Fig. 6 is a view showing the twisted wire or bar which is produced by the machine.

Referring more particularly to the parts, and especially to Figs. 1 and 2, 1 represents the base of the machine which is formed at one end into a bearing 2 for a main shaft 3, the said main shaft being provided with a hand wheel 4 by means of which it may be continuously rotated by seizing the handle 5. The shaft 3 is provided with a main driving gear wheel 6, which meshes at one side of the machine with a pinion 7, said pinion being rigidly attached to a spindle 8. This spindle 8 is rotatably mounted in a standard 9 which extends upwardly from the base at the side of the machine, as shown. The opposite end of the base is formed into an elevated seat 10 for a bracket 11, and between this bracket and the standard 9a pair of horiof the wire is laid in the groove 19.

zontally d sposed guide bars 12 are mounted, as shown. On the inner extremity of the spindle S a twisting hook 13 is rigidly attached. The axis of the spindle 8 is disposed preferably centrally between the parallel guide bars 12. Slidably mounted on the guide bars 12 I provide a carriage 1.4. At its forward edge this carriage is provided with a movable horizontal die plate 1.5, and over this die plate there is provided a slide plate 16 which is adapted to slide longitudinally of the bars 12 on the carriage, being held in place by a suitable cover plate or cover 17, attached to the carriage by screws 18, as indicated. In the face of the die plate 15, grooves 19 and 20 are formed, which are disposed at an angle to each other so that they converge toward the hook. These grooves 19 and 20 do not meet in the die plate, but would meet just beyond its forward edge 21, as indicated in Fig. 3, if they were extended. The grooves are suffi cicntly deep to hold the wire 22 from which the wire bar 23 is to be formed.

For convenience, at one side, the face of the machine is provided with a wire cutter 24, which consists of a lever 25 pivotally attached at 26, and presenting a knife 27 which is adapted to be applied to the wire when drawn through guide openings 28 formed in the webs 29 extending upwardly from the base of the machine, as shown.

30 disposed at one side of the machine near the wire cutter, as illustrated in Fig. 2. After passing through the webs 29, the unformed wire 31 is applied to the bender or bending device 32. The construction of this device is clearly illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 5; it is seated upon a base or post 33 formed in the base as ind'cated in Fig. 1, and it consists o a lever 34 pivotally mounted upon a stud 35 set upon the horizontal upper face 36 of the post. This stud 35 has an enlarged head 37 disposed above the lever, as indicated. Upon the lever there is attached an adjustable bracket 38 by means of an adjusting bolt 39, and this bracket is formed with an offset arm 40 carrying a roller 41. rotatably mounted on a vertically disposed pin 42, as indicated in Fig. 2. The surface of this roller 41 lies adjacent to the surface of the head 37. The end of the wire is applied between the pin and the roller in the manner indicated in Fig. 2, and the lever is then pulled around by means of its handle 43, in a righthand direction. In this way the end of the wire which projects beyond the pin is bent around so as to form a rudimentary eye one end of the wire blank 44 being bent across the body of the wire, as illustrated in Fig. 2. This rudimentary eye 45 is applied over the hook, as indicated in this view and in Fig. 1, and the body of the wire blank 44 is laid in the groove 20. The short end 46 The slide plate 16 is then advanced by means of its handle 47, so that it The wire is conveniently carried upon a reel slides into position over the wire on the die plate, in the manner indicated in Fig. 1. The hand wheel 4 is then rotated so that the spindle 8 and the hook 1.3 are rotated likewise. As the hook rotates, the wire is formed into a twist 48, as shown in Fig. 3. As this twist 48 is formed, t pushes the carriage 14 away from the hook, it being understood, in this connection, that the carriage slides very ireely upon the guide bars. The twisting operation is continued until the short end 46 oi the wire becomes disengaged from its groove 19, whereupon the slide plate 16 is withdrawn and the wire is removed irom the die plate and straightened. In this way, an eye is formed at one end of the wire rod.

In order to form the eye at the opposite end, the compl etely formed eye 49 is applied to a linger 50 which projects upwardly l'rom the body of a gage rod 51, and this gage rod is adjustably mounted in the post 33, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 5. The rod may be clamped in any desired extended position by means of a thumbscrew 52.

The wire is applied to the bending device 32 in the manner illustrated in Fig. 5, the uni'ormed end of the wire being received between the stud 37 and the roller 4]., as suggested above. The lever 34 in this instance, however, is rotated irom left to right, so that the free end of the wire is bent across the body thereof to form a rudimentary eye 53', this rudimentary eye 53 is then applied to the hook 13 with the straight portions of the wire lying in the grooves 01' the die plate so as to enable a twist to be formed at this eye similar to the twist 48. The operation in forming this eye is substantially the same as that described above in forming the eye 49. When both ends of the rod have been treated, the tinished rod presents the appearance shown in Fig. 6, and a number of these wires or rods are adapted to be mounted in the cutting frame for cutting the molded clay as it comes from the brick machine.

Having thus described my invention 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a wire-twisting machine, in combination, a member adapted to engage a rudimentary eye formed in the wire, a die plate disposed adjacent to said member and having grooves therein converging toward said member, and means for producing a relative rotation between said member and said die plate.

2. In a wireiorming machine, in combination, adapted to engage a rudimentary eye formed in the wire to be twisted, a die plate having grooves converging toward said hook, means for holding the wire in said grooves, and means for rotating said hook.

3. In a Wireiorming machine, in combination, a hook adapted to receive a rudimentary eye formed in the wire, a die plate having grooves therein converging toward said hook, means for holding the wire in said grooves, means for producing a relative rotation of said hook and said die plate, and means for movably mounting said die plate whereby said hook and said die plate may separate as a twist is formed.

4. In a wire iorming machine, in combination, a slidably mounted carriage, a die plate having grooves formed therein converging toward the edge of said die plate, said grooves being adapted to receive the straight extensions ex tending from the rudimentary eye, a slide plate mounted on said carriage and adapted to slide over said die plate to hold said extensions in said grooves, a hook opposite said edge of said die plate and adapted to receive the rudimentary eye, and means for rotating said hook.

5. In a wireforming machine, in combination, a base, a stud mounted in said base, a lever rotatably mounted about said stud and having a roller lying adjacent to the face thereof, and a gage rod extending from said base and adjustably mounted therein, said gage rod having a laterally projecting Linger adapted to receive an eye formed on the end of the wire opposite the end which is being bent about said stud.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

a hook \VILLIAM HENERY MERKEL.

Witnesses 1 W. W. MCKENZIE, G. M. BARLOV. 

